Karl Holmqvist

In his upcoming lecture at the Staedelschule, Karl Holmqvist will read excerpts from his new artist's book 'K which has just been recently published, while further attempting to establish possible links between writing and contemporary art. With a view of spoken word as performance, and a type of 'invisible visual arts' where the images are made up inside the listeners' minds, Karl Holmqvist will use techniques such as quotations of more or less familiar sources, repetition and ambiguity of meaning in order to point to the wide range of language's reach. All art can be said to be an act of communication–and of communion, tracing it back to its semi-ritualistic roots.

Karl Holmqvist has lectured, performed and exhibited since the early nineties, most recently with Kunsthalle Zurich and Bergen Kunsthall who are the joint publishers of his artist's book 'K together with JRP-Ringier. Last year Karl Holmqvist´s work was shown at the IllumiNations section of the 54th Venice Biennial (curated by Bice Curiger). This spring he was included in the Ecstatic Alphabets-Heaps Of Language exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and in a oneperson exhibition Words Are People at Alex Zachary Peter Currie also in New York.